Two federal agencies are planning to collaborate in the next fiscal year to address long-term care workforce issues in nursing home settings, according to a report released Thursday.
The report, published by the Government Accountability Office, identified gaps and limitations in data about direct care workers, such as nursing assistants and home health aides, that hinder workforce planning efforts.
Among those gaps is a lack of data from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration on the supply and demand of the direct care workforce, the GAO said. HRSA has not produced an assessment of direct care worker data in more than 10 years, despite the creation of new data sources.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans flocked to nursing schools over the past decade, drawn by the prospect of a well-paying job with a degree that takes as little as two years. But many have graduated only to find the goal posts have shifted, as hospitals seek nurses with more-advanced degrees, partly in response to an increasingly complex health-care system.

CampusRN members are students/alumni of the following Illinois schools (partial list):

Aurora University
Benedictine University
Blessing-Rieman College of Nursing
Bradley University
Chicago State University
DePaul University
Elmhurst College
Graham Hospital Association School of Nursing
Governors State University
Illinois Central College
Illinois State University

Illinois Wesleyan University
Lakeview College of Nursing
Lewis University
Loyola University Chicago
MacMurray College
Millikin University
Northern Illinois University
North Park University
Olivet Nazarene University
Rush University
Saint Anthony College of Nursing

Saint Francis Medical Center
Saint John's College
Saint Xavier University
Southern Illinois University
Trinity Christian College
Trinity College of Nursing
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Illinois Medical Center
University of Saint Francis
West Suburban College of Nursing